Cable-operated conveyer



March 15 1927.

L. ROAN CABLE OPERATED CONVEYER Filed July 20, 1926 Lal&er Roan 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 15 1927.

L. ROAN CABLE, OPERATED CONVEYER Filed July 20, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 15 19 27.

| ROAN CABLE OPERATED CONVEYER 5 Sheets- Sheet 4 Filed July 20, 1926 March 15 1927. 1,620,785

L. ROAN CABLE OPERATED CONVEYER Filed July 20, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Mar. 15, 1927.

LUTHER aoa'n, or RIVES, mrssoum.

CABLE-,OPERATED CONVEYER.

Application filed July 20, 1926." Serial No. 123,710.

This invention relates to devices used in Warehouses and in yards for conveying material fromonepoint to another as, for in stance, from a mill to a yard where the material is piled or for carrying other material and the general object of the invention is from any 1 to provide aconveyer of this character which will do away with the necessity of using horses, wagons and operatives for the. purpose of hauling the material through the yard and discharging it and substitute for this purpose a conveyerwhich is adapted to be movedfrom an initial position to any one of a plurality of discharge positions, this conveyer being adapted to carry "a truck upon which the material may be piled and the truck being detachably connected to the conveyer so that it may be detached therefrom andthen shifted by hand toany desired point in the yard or warehouse.

Another object is to provide means whereby the conveyer with its truck may return point in the yard to its initial position w ere the truck may be again loaded or whereby the conveyer may be returned without the truck to receive a freshly loaded truck.

Still another object is to provide a construction of this character embodying rails upon which the conveyer moves and stops disposed'at intervals along-the supporting framework for .the rails, which. stops are shiftable manually into a position to stop the motion of the conveyer cable and bring the conveyer to a halt.

Still another object is to provide a conveyer with a turntable with which the truck is engaged so that when it is desired to disengage the truck from the turntable, the turntable may be shifted to bring the truck into position where it may be run off in the direction required. y

A further object is to provide a conveyer of this character with a conveying cable whereby the carriage ofthe conveyer is shifted, a"dri ving shaft for the cable and with which the cable is engaged, and

,meanswhereby power may be transmitted to the driving shaft to cause it to ride in either direction, one of said means being operated by a lever at the middle, and the other means being operated by a lever orlevers located at a distance from the'middie or loading point of the conveyer.

Other objects have to do with the details of construction and-arrangement of parts to appear more fully hereinafter.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of acable conveyer constructed'iii accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view, of the structure shown in Figure 1; V

Fig. 3 isv a section on the line 33 of Fi ure 1; 4

Fig. 4 is a fragmentar longitudinal section on the line 4-4 of igure 2;

,Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section on the line 5-5 of Figure 2;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary front elevation of the truck; r

Fig. 7 is a detailedelevat-ion showingthe manner of connecting the truck tothe carriage; Fig. 8 is a side elevation of one of the clutc es,

Fig. 9 is a section F i are 8;

ig. 10.is'a sectional view through one of..the brackets for supporting the rod 32;

Fig. 11 isa sectional view through the track showing one of the stops in elevation.

Figure 12 is a sectional view through the rod controllin the return of the carriage and showing t e handle thereon.

on the line 9-9 of Referring to these drawings it will be seen i that I have provided longitudinally extendlng supporting beams 10 u on which rails 11, are mounted, these beams eing supported byanysuitable supporting structure as, for instance, by "the uprights 12 and the cross beams. 13. The rails and their supporting beams maybe of anyde'sired length as, for instance, the full length of the warehouse or the full lengdth'of the yard and while I have illustrate the tracks as extending straight away, it will be understood that the tracks might extend laterally at any desired point-so that the conveyer may take a circuitous course if necessary.

Mounted at the loading-end of the tracks upon a suitable framework isI-a transverse shaft 14 which may be driven in any suitable manner from any suitable motor and is illustrated as beingdri-ven by a 15 passing over a drum 16 This shaft, trated as carrying the"- posed in advance of th aft 14 and aria]- .l l thereto is-a shaft" 18 carrying 11 luswinding drum 19, this shaft being mounted in suitable bearings, and passing several tunes around this Winding drum 19 and over a terminal pulley 20 and over guide pulleys 21. is a cable 22, nected to a carriage operating over the r-ails 1'1, as will be more fully described; a

The cable 22, after it passes around the drum 19, returns to the carriage and is attached to the opposite en'dof the carriage from the first namedend of the cable. Thus, it will be seen that as the shaft 18 is rotated in one direction, the cable will be shifted so as to move the carriage on the rails 11 away from the loading: point and when the shaft is rotated in the, opposite direction, the carriage will be drawn toward the loading point.

For the purposeof causing the operation of the shaft 18 in either of two directions I mount upon the shaft 18 the two oppositely directed cone clutch, members 23 and '23. Disposed in alignment with the shaft 18 are the shafts 24 and 24, each being supported in suitable bearings and carrying the longitudinally shiftable clutch members 25 and 25. Each clutch member 25 is retracted from its corresponding member 23 by means of the springs 26, these springs being en-v gaged with a collar 27 mounted upon the shaft 24 or 24.

For the purpose of shifting the clutch member 25 into engagement with the clutch member 23 I dispose through the hollow shaft 24 a rod 27 which may protrude be-v yond the tubular shaft 24. Engaged with a fixed screw-threaded member 28 is a head 28 into which the rod 27 extends so that when this head is rotated in one direction, the screw-threads 29 thereof will engage the screw-threads of the member and cause the head to move inward, thus moving the rod 27 inward and shifting the clutch member 25 into engagementwith the clutch member 23. Of course, the threads 29 areorelati'vely quick so that a relatively slight r0- tativemovement of the head 28 will cause the rod- 27 to move inward a relatively great distance and thus shift the clutch member til The head 28 is rotatably shifted by means of a controlling lever 30. Like means are used upon the opposite end of shaft 24 for the purpose of moving the clutch mem-' illustrated in Figure 11. 1 Each stop consists of a body 34 slidingly mounted upon the the end of which is 0011-,

rectangular rod 32 and pivotally mounted upon each body 34 is a finger 35 which may be turned either into a depending position or into a horizontally projected position. The finger 35 isheld in its projected position by means of the pin 36, for instance,

passing through an aperture in the finger convenient position and then held in this position by means of a set screw 37. This rod 32 is connected to the lever 30 by means of a link 38. A band wheel 39 is mounted upon the shaft 24 and a like band wheel 39 is mounted upon the shaft 24. A belt 40 passes over the band-wheel 39 and aroundone of the band wheels 17 and a belt 40 passes around the other bandwheel 17 and 7 around supporting wheels 41, the .upper flight of the belt engaging the band wheel 39*. Thus it will be seen that rotation of the shaft 14 in one direction will transmit rotation in reverse directionsto the shafts.

24 and 24 respectively and that= through the clutches, the shaft 18 may be driven either in one direction or the other. a "Operating over the rails 11 is a carriage designated generally 42 which includes lonill) gitudinally extending frame beams 43 and.

supporting wheels 44 which engage the rails. Mounted upon the carriage s a fixed depending cylinder 45 which at its lower end carries an outwardly projecting collar 46 and mounted upon the cylinder 45-"and rotatingupon the collar 46 and sup orted upon ball bearings is an outer cylin er 47. The cylinders 45 and 47 together constitute a turntable. .Carriedupon the cylinder 47 are the transversely extending beams 48 having longitudinal members 49, the members 49 projecting beyond their intersection with the beams 48. Extending transversely through these projecting portions of .the members 4am rock shafts 50 and mounted upon the ends of these rock shaftsare bell crank levers 51, the bell crank'levei's on the shaft 50 being connected to the bell crank levers of the shaft'50 by links 52 so that all of the bell crank levers will operate simultaneously. Mounted upon the shaft 50 is alever 53 which operates over an arcuate rack 54 the lever carrying a grip operated latch 55. whereby the lever may. be locked in either a depressed or raised position.

Disposed below the beams 49 are the longitudinally extending beams 56 which are bifurcated at their ends-and pivotally connected to links 57 which in turn are pivotally connected to the lower arms of the bell crank levers 51. Guides 58 are attache l to the beams 49 and extend downward there from into longitudinally extending slots 59 formed in the beams 56. Bivotally connected to the extremities of the'beams 56 are the dependingv links 60 and the lower ends of these links are formed with eongate cl eyes 61 which are adapted to be con nected to a truck designated generally 62. This truck embodies. a wheel supported frame and the beams 63 of the truck carry at each end a transversely extending rod 6-1, the extremities of which arelaterally enlarged and flattened to form relatively flat heads'65. When these heads are turned into parallel relation to the eyes '61 the links. 60 may be disengaged from the truck. When the rod 64 is rotated, however, through a.

quarter circle, the heads will be disposed a direction to cause the release of the clutch.

at right angles to the length of the eyes and' the eyes will be locked from detachment. A handle66 is'mounted upon each ofthe rods 64, this handle having-sufficient weight to normally rotate the rod to a position where itsheads 65 are at right angles to .the eyes.

W'ith the mechanism which has been de-.

scribed it is obvious that a truck may'be shifted to any desired position by means of the carriage and cable. The truck may be I lowered by shifting the lever 53. The truck may then be detached from the carriage an run off to any desired place by hand power. It will be obvious that the truck may be as readily engaged. with the carriage, raised by operating the lever 53=soas to lift the wheels off the ound, and then the earriage and the true sent back to its initial loading point by operating the clutch member To this end I mounted upon the shaft 24 the lever and this lever is piv-' 'otally connected to a rod 67 mounted in guides 31 and this rod 67 is provided at convenient intervals with handles 68 whereby the rod may. be shifted. It will be obvious that when the rod is shifted in one direction, the head 28" will be rotated so as to shift the-clutch member 25 into engagcment with the clutch member 28 to thus reversely rotate the drum 19 and draw the carriage home. A stop69 of the same general character as sto is mounted upon the rod 67 and is a apted to be struck by the carriage when the carriage nears the receiving point to thusshift the rod 67 in member 25* from clutch member 23, and this causes the stoppage of the carriage.

The operation of this mechanism is as follows:-The truck, at'the loading point. is engaged with the carriage by means ofthe links and the truck isthen loaded with the material. Previous to this the proper stop 35 has been set to stop the carriage where it is desired to unload the truck or, shift the truck from the carriage and when the truck is loaded, the lever 30 is the shipper-rod 67.

clutch members 23* and 25 and causes the- -the clutches with their respeetivedrive operated which throws in the clutch which connects shaft section 18 and the" shaft section and this causesthe-cable 22 to, pull the carriage along the tracklf When the ear riage reaches the stopj35 which is projected out into the path'of the carriage, thecarriage strikes the stop. This shifts the rod 32 longitudinally andas, a consequence, r'cleases the clutch and the cable comes t'oja stop; The truck may then be swung'a'ro und upon the truntable to any degree required andthen by means of the lever 53, the truck is-lowered. The/links 60 "arethen detached from the cross bar 64 and the truckmay move away to its destination. If desired, the carriage'may besent directly-back by operating the nearest lever 68, these levers being disposed at frequent ,distancesupon This throws in the reverse movement of the shaft section 18. When the carriage reaches the stop 69 the shipper rod 67 is shifted into a position to detach engagement between the clutch members 23 and .25 and the carriage comes to a stop whereupon a newly filled truck may be engaged wlth the carria e and the operation repeated or, of course, the carriage may remain atthe unloading point until the truck has been unloaded and then the empty truck reloaded upon the carriage and back to the loading point.

It will be seen that this mechanism is capable of a large variety of uses in many (littering circumstances. It is particularly convenient,'however, for lumber yards, mills, warehouses and in like situations where it is desired to shift materials from'a delivering point to separated points within the yard or warehouse. This mechanism, of course, need not be driven constantly and even if the shaft 14. be constantly connected to power and driven thereby, very. little power will be used except duringthe actual movement of the carriage. This handling mechanism will reduce the number of men necessary to employ in the yard and do sent away 'Wlijh the use of teams and. the attend 7 ant hostlers or stablemen.

While I have illustrated a construction which I believe to 'be particularly effective for the purpose intended, I do not wish to belimited to the details of construction and arrangement of parts as these might be modified in many, wa-yswithout departing from the spirit of the invention. Attention is called to the faetthat the shaft sections 15, 24 and 24" constitute in effect a single counter-shaft to which powermay be applied to drive it in one dir'cctiomor the other. Any clutch mechanism may be used in place of the specific clutch mechanism which I have disclosed and it-"is obvious v ly. .moun

leys or band wheels might t ed upon a single countershaft and the clutches actuated or released to drive the means for said shaft, manually controlled means located at a loading point whereby the shaft may. be connected to the driving means todrive the shaft in a direction .to

- move the carriage away-from the loading point, manually adjustable means movable into the path of movement of the carriage and acting to automatically disconnect the shaft from the driving means when the carriage engages said adjustable means, and manually controlled means for connecting the shaft to its driving means and driving the shaft in a direction'to return the carriage to the loading point. p

2. A conveyer comprising a supporting structure, atrack thereon, a carriage movable on the track, manually controlled means for causing the carriage to. move away from a predetermined loading point under power. manually adjustable means disposed in the path of -movement' of the carriage acting to automatically stop the carriage when it has reached a predetermined osition, manually operable means for causing the return of the carriage to its loading position under power, and means acting to automaticala 1y stop the carriage when it has reachedits loading position.

3. A conveyer comprising a supporting structure, a track thereon, a carriage movableover the track, a cable connected at its opposite ends to the carriage, a drum over' which the cable passes, manually controlled means for connecting the drum to a source of power to move the carriage from a loading position, a plurality of manually adjustable means disposed at intervals along the track and each adapted to be shifted into the ath of movement of the carriage and acting to disconnect the drum from the source of power when engaged by the carriage, manually controllable means disposed at intervals, along the track whereby the P drum may be connected to a source of power and caused to move in a direction to return the carriage to its initial loading position, and means acting automatically to discon-' nect the drum from the source of power when the carriage has reached its loading position.

' structure, tracks thereon, a carriage movable 4. A conveyer comprising a supporting over the tracks, a cable connected to said carriage to shift it, a drum over which the cable passes, manually controlled means 10-. cated at the loading point for said carriage whereby the drum may be connected to a source of power to shift the carriage away from said loading point, means located at intervals along the length of the track whereby the drum may be automatically disconnected from the source of power by the engagementpf the carriage and said means, eachof said means being. independently shiftable into the path of movement of the carriage, manually operable means located at intervals along the track whereby the drum may be connected to a source of power and caused to reverse the movement of the cable and return thecarriage to its loading position, and means for automatically disconnecting the drum from the source of power when the carriage hasreturned to itsloading position.

5. A con'veyer of. the character described com rising a supporting structure having trac s, a wheeled carriage movable upon the tracks, an endless cable connected at its ends to the carriage, a drum over which the .cable passes, a drive shaft, manually operable means locatedadjacent the drum for connecting the drum to the drive shaft and causing a rotation of the drum ina direction to move the carriage away from the drum and including a lever, a reverse movement ofthelever acting to disconnect the drum from the drive shaft, a rod extending along said supporting structure and mounted thereon for sliding movement and operatively connected to the lever, stops arranged at nte vals along said rod and each manually shiftable into or out of a position across the path of movement ofthe carria e whereby the engagement of the carriage with the stop will cause the longitudinal movement of the rod and the actuation of the lever to release the driving connection between the drive shaft and the drum, -means for connecting the drum with the drive shaft to cause a reverse'movemcnt of the drum and including a lever, a. rod connected to. the lever and extending along thesupporting structure and slidingly mounted thereon, means disposed at intervals along the structure whereby said. rod may be manually shifted'to connect the drum with the driving means, and means lo.-

catedadjacen't the drum for causing the automat-icrelease of the drum from the driving means to thereby'bring the carriage to.

a stop.

16. A cenveyer of the. character describedcomprising a supporting structure having tracks, a wheeled carriage movable upon the tracks, an endless cable connected at its ends to the carriage, a drum over which the cable passes, a drive shaft, manually operable means located adjacent the drum for connect ng the drum to the drive shaft and causing a rotation-of the drum in a direction the rod and the actuation of the lever to re-.

lease the driving connection between the drive shaft and the drum, means for connecting the drum with the drive shaft to cause a reverse movement of the drum and including a lever, a rod connected to the lever and extending along the supporting structure and slidingly mounted thereon,-

means disposed at intervals along the structure whereby said rod may be manually shifted to connect the drum with the driving means, and a lever mounted upon said last named rod and projecting into the path of movement of the carriage and when engaged by the carriage disconnecting the drum from the driving means.

7. A conveyer comprising a supporting structure havin tracks, a wheeled carriage movable over t e tracks, truck supporting means mounted upon the carriage, a cable having its ends connected to the carriage, a,

drum over which the cable passes, a power actuated driving shaft, band wheels operatively engaged with the driving shaft, said band wheels being driven in reverse direc tions, clutch operated means for operatively connecting one of said band wheels to the drum to cause a movement of the cable in a direction to shift the carriage outward from the drum, means disposed at intervals along the supporting structure and manually adjustable into or out of an operative position adapted to cause the disconnection of one of said-clutch operated'means to thereby.

bring the carriage to a stop, manually oper-- able means disposed at intervals along the supporting structure whereby the other clutch may be shifted to engage the drum with the driving means for movement in a reverse direction, and means. actuated by the jacent the drum acting to release said last.

arrival of the carriage at a loading point adnamed clutch.

8. A conveyer comprising a supporting structure, a track thereon, a wheeled carriage movable over the track, means for shifting the carriage over the track including a drum I and a cable engaging the drum and the carriage manually operable means for connectmg the drum to a source of power to rotate the drum in one direction, and manually adjustable means forv stopping the movement of the drum including a longitudinally shiftable rod mounted upon the supporting structure, and a plurality 'of stops disposed at intervals along the rod and manually adjust-' able each independently of the other into or out of a position in the path of movement of the carriage.

9. A conveyer of the character described I comprising a supporting structure, a track thereon, a wheeled carriage movable over the track, means for shifting the carriage over the track including'a drum and 'a cable engaging the drum and the carriage, manually operable means for connecting the drum to a source of power to rotate the drum in one direction, and manually adjustable means for stopping the movement of the drum including alongitudinally shiftable rod mounted upon the supporting structure, and a'plurality of stops disposed at intervals along the rod and manually adjustable each independently of the other into or out of a position in the path of movement of the carria e, each of said means "including a body, a finger pivotally mounted upon thebody, means forholding the finger raised and projected, and meansfor holding the body in.

adjusted position upon the rod.

10. A conveyer of the character described I comprising a supporting structure, a track thereon and includinga rotatable sup ort, manually operable means for causing t e carriage to 'move away from a predetermined loading point under power, manually adjustablemeans disposed in the path of movement of the carriage acting to automatically stop the carriage whenit has reached a predea carriage movable on the,track,.

termined position, manually operable means I -for causing the return of the carriage to its loading posltion under power, and means acting to automatically stop the carriage when it has reached'its loading position.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature. LUTHER ROAN. 

